Dear sisters and brothers,

Happy Easter time to you. We are writing to invite you to join us in a new initiative for peace and hope during this time of extreme violence and suffering in the world. In the spirit of Easter hope, we have initiated a global "Pause for Peace" to reflect and recommit ourselves each day to peacemaking and hope. This new Pause for Peace initiative was launched on Easter Sunday, April 11, 2004. This simple, easy-to-do moment of reflection has the potential of becoming an almost constant stream of pledges heard around the world.

This is how the global Pause for Peace works: each person, wherever on our earth, is invited to pause and reflect for a very brief moment at 12noon of each day, to renew her or his commitment to peace and hope by saying the following mantra (one or more times), in silence or out loud, alone or with others:

I renew my commitment to peacemaking in the spirit of hope

In extending this invitation to you, we hope that you will serve as catalysts in getting this Pause for Peace spread to other peacemakers. Please feel free to disseminate this invitation as widely as possible through your own networks, so it reaches our schools (students, faculties, parents and alumni), our co-workers and colleagues, our families, friends, and neighbors, and beyond. Just imagine what energy this daily pledge could unleash if we rededicate ourselves by the thousands around the world, in different countries, cultures and languages, in different time zones, every single day anew.

In order to "do" something with the pledges and commitments made, we have asked the liaison person in your Province to give us a number of how many people have participated up to May 30, Pentecost Sunday. Shortly thereafter, we will draft a letter for the Secretary-General and Security Council, and present to them the initial results of this important campaign.

Thank you for participating in this peace initiative.

Congregations of Saint Joseph, UN-NGO Office
Daughters of Wisdom
Dominican Leadership Conference
Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, UN-NGO Office
International Presentation Association Sisters of the Presentation
Sisters of Mercy, UN Office
Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, UN-NGO Office
Society of the Sacred Heart, UN-NGO Office